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Kade--Chapter Two--

The doorbell rang early Tuesday morning and, much to Kade's agitation, it rang constantly. The persistent sound roused Kade's mind and he jerked up, growling lowly. By the time Kade had stomped towards the door, he was sure his fur was bristling and his growling hadn't ceased by the time he had swung the door open. On the other side was Tyler, dressed and proper, with a cup holder (and coffee) and a fast food bag. A small hunger pulled at Kade's stomach but the feeling was overshadowed by his agitation.

"Why the hell are you ringing my doorbell so fucking early?!" Kade bellowed. "This'd better be really damn good, rookie!"

"Sorry," Tyler snapped back. "I just thought you'd might want some breakfast, but since you're going to be an asshole..."

Kade stomach growled and Tyler smirked coyly. "Okay..."

"Thought we could talk a bit. Get to know each other a bit." Tyler looked down, his expression faltering. "Maybe I should come back when you put some pants on."

Kade looked down--he hadn't thought of putting on pants or a shirt when he stomped to the door so he stood there in his underwear. He exhaled sharply and stood aside. "Sit in the living room and I'll be there in a minute. Let me throw something on."

Tyler stepped into the small apartment and into the living room, surveying it with an intrigued eye. Sure that his partner was judging his abode, Kade let out a small growl of irritation as he walked to his bedroom, reemerging a few minutes later with a shirt and shorts on. When he returned, Tyler had picked up a photograph from his coffee table, staring at it closely.

"See something you like?" Kade asked.

Tyler jumped in surprise but soon returned his attention to the photograph. "The lion... He looks like Zachariah Eldridge."

"He is Zachariah Eldridge," Kade answered. "He was my teacher at the Peacekeeper Academy. Went out in a blaze of glory." Kade sighed, taking the picture out of Tyler's paws. "Haven't looked at this in years. Took this picture after I'd gotten my badge. He was so proud but still kind of an ass about it."

"What was he like? I heard he was the best!"

"That's a subjective view," Kade replied. "His record is longer than most of the officers so naturally, he'll have a higher number of successes. But he'll also still have a high number of failures as well. But since he died, tradition says his failures don't matter anymore. It's considered 'disrespectful'." Kade set the photo down on the coffee table and looked at the food and drinks. "What'd you bring?"

Eating breakfast with Tyler wasn't so bad. Kade had turned on the television to watch the news, but he found himself more intrigued by the conversation they were having. Tyler was speaking of his family and his hometown, halfway across the country.

"So what brings a country boy like you all the way to the concrete jungle?" Kade wondered, taking a swig of his coffee. It was a tad bitterer than he'd prefer, but he wouldn't complain about a free cup of caffeine.

"My father got a job here in the city and we didn't really have much choice. We were pretty poor," Tyler confessed. "Once we moved, I liked it. It's not so bad and I had a lot of friends for a short while. Most of us played sports in our free time. Honestly, I was hoping to be an athlete when I grew up. But sadly..." He tapped his prosthetic leg against the table. "Lost my leg and took a while to get a new one."

"What happened?" Kade wondered, turning off the television. Tyler's expression fell. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," Tyler said, his voice shaking.

"Tyler?" Kade murmured. "Tyler!"

"Huh? Sorry, just thinking," Tyler answered. "I'd rather not talk about it, if it's okay with you."

"Do you have--?"

"I don't know," Tyler interrupted. "Never got diagnosed."

Kade sighed. "I used to not like talking about my eye. But I realized that a prosthetic is nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it anything to hide. It just is what it is."

"I suppose."

Kade sighed. "I'm going to take a shower. We'll head out when I'm done, alright?"

"Okay."

---

After an hour in the gym (where Kade showed him some of his hand-to-hand skill) and another hour in the shooting range, they found themselves on patrol once more. Again, Kade had leaned back and propped his footpaws on the dashboard while Tyler reminded him that it was against regulations. This time, Kade's snappy retort had reminded him that they are the law. Tyler snorted in amusement.

The next few days had passed by in the same rhythm. Tyler would stop by in the morning with breakfast and coffee, then they'd go about their day together until they were no longer on duty. Much to Kade's annoyance, Tyler was staunchly dedicated to rules and regulations, never failing to remind him of any infraction upon them. And likewise, Kade's nonchalant disregard for rules and regulations (and his usual sarcastic response) never failed to get a chuckle or laugh out of the wolf. They were typically side-by-side, so much so that twice, Kade had been asked where Tyler was if they weren't together.

It was during his first day off since he'd been assigned this partner that Kade had gotten one of the most unwelcome calls of his careers. His phone began ringing just past one o'clock in the morning on Saturday and Kade answered it groggily, unable to keep his angry tone from his voice.

"WHAT?!" he snarled, not bothering to look at who had been calling.

The panicked voice on the other side caught him off-guard. It was frightened and shaking and Kade sure he heard the phone trembling in the other's paw. "K-Kade... I..."

"Ty? What the fuck are you calling me for?"

"I found a... Oh my God..."

"TYLER!"

"A body!" Tyler spat out.

Kade hesitated. "A body? Like an unconscious body or--?"

"I think they're dead..." Tyler breathed. "There's a lot of blood... It's just..." He sounded sick and Kade was sure he heard Tyler heaving.

"Listen, rookie, calm down. Where are you?"

"I had just gone down to the convenience store and I was walking home... It's in the alley next to my place..."

"Call HQ. I'll be there shortly. Are you armed?"

"No."

"Go get your gun," Kade ordered. "Keep your paw on the trigger and don't let civilians in the area. I'll be there shortly."

---

He was unsure of what to think as he sped down the street towards Tyler's apartment. He had rushed through throwing on his uniform and was sure he looked disheveled and unpresentable but he didn't care. There was a feeling of urgency he hadn't felt in quite some time. Perhaps it had been the panic in Tyler's voice or simply the knowledge that there had been a murder.

By the time he reached Tyler's apartment building, he was amazed to find that other officers had yet to arrive. But the area was quiet and, most disturbingly, dark. He stepped out of the vehicle, retrieving the flashlight and stepped into the alley slowly. Where the fuck was Tyler? Was this some kind of prank? But then, the light reflected off something on the ground and Kade flashed the light downward--the concrete beneath him was wet, the crimson-tinged liquid having started to soak into the stone. Kade kneeled down; it was still wet.

"Kade?" a frightened voice murmured. Immediately Kade jumped and wheeled around, dropping his flashlight and pointing his pistol in the direction of the voice. At once, Tyler held up his paws in surrender and in the dim lighting, Kade could see that he was absolutely terrified. "It's me! Tyler Mooney!"

"Are you sure it's you?" Kade said in a taunting manner. He had already holstered his pistol by the time Tyler had found his voice again.

"Not funny!"

"Did you call HQ?"

"Chief Gray wasn't--"

"Call the emergency number!" Kade said with an annoyed sigh. "We need a CSI unit down here to do their thing. But for now, why don't you explain how you stumbled upon the body? And for the love of God, stop shaking. Grow a pair."

"Sorry! I'm not used to... How are you so calm?"

"I'm not but I'm uniform," Kade answered. "Gotta fake it at least. What happened?" He picked up his flashlight again, kneeling by the body. It was bloody, that's for sure, numerous slashes and stabs visible beneath light brown fur, now dyed with blood. "Do you know this person?"

Tyler cocked his head. "Maybe. They might live in my apartment... Lived..."

"Hey, hey, focus," Kade said, snapping. "You just happened upon the body?"

"I was coming back from the store," Tyler explained, "and I heard some noises. I said I was Peacekeeper and showed my badge and someone ran away. I tried to go after them but..." He looked down. "Sorry."

"You found the body, that's something. Call HQ, the emergency number, and let's get this area quarantined."

---

"Drink," Kade ordered a little over an hour later, passing a cup of ice water to his partner. Tyler, looking sick to his stomach, took the paper cup but did not drink. Already, a crowd was starting to gather around the area, pushed back by Peacekeepers and kept at bay while the crime scene was surveyed and documented. Tyler's testimony had already been taken and now they found themselves seated on the steps of his apartment building, waiting for the crowds to dissipate and the corpse to be taken away for a full post-mortem examination.

"Sorry," Tyler said for the umpteenth time. "Don't mean to be acting like this. Never been this scared before."

"You're a Peacekeeper now," Kade remarked, "and this'll happen more than I'd like. This ain't my first crime scene or my first corpse though I've never seen one quite this fucked up. Whoever did this was sick in the head."

"So what now?"

"We'll investigate," Kade answered. "I can't say for sure whether we'll be put on this particular case or if they'll give it to someone else... You sure you still wanna be a Peacekeeper?"

"Don't know," Tyler confessed. "I'm used to training but this is..."

"Welcome to the job, rookie," Kade said darkly. "Can't say whether or not this'll get easier on you but after a while..."

"Don't want to see this again."

"Not your choice when you wear that badge."

"Lieutenant Creed?" A shaggy-furred bear approached him, a serious look on his face. "A word?"

Kade nodded, patted Tyler's shoulder kindly and stepped forward. He followed the bear into the alleyway--they were removing the body. "What's wrong?"

"Just wanted your opinion on this," the bear explained. "Ever seen this before?"

"Nothing this savage."

"She was nearly decapitated," the bear answered. "It's only her spine keeping her head on and there's knife marks on the vertebrae. This was just brutal."

"Yeah. Did you find any evidence?"

"No, that's what's so strange," the bear admitted. "No blood leading away or towards. We think she might've died elsewhere but the body was mutilated here. Rigor mortis has already set in but we'll definitely get a definitive time of death when the lab techs get their paws on the body. But whoever she was, her eye was gouged out and her left paw was taken off. Both were prosthetic."

Kade's eyes narrowed. "You think that's what they were after?"

"Possibly but we don't know for sure."

"I see. Nothing more we can do on the scene?"

"No, don't think so. We're about to clean up the scene. We've taken photos and such and we'll be cataloguing them later today."

"Okay. I'll stop by and check them out later," Kade answered. He glanced back at Tyler. "You remember your first crime scene?"

The bear looked up at Tyler and sighed. "Never easy, no matter how many times we see it. Always a shame to see someone killed. But he seems to be taking it way too personally."

"I'll handle him. Keep up the good work."

"Yeah..."

Returning to the steps, Kade cleared his throat noisily to get Tyler's attention. "Come on, let's go upstairs. Nothing we can do down here."

Tyler led the way to his apartment, completely silent and withdrawn as he did so. But before opening the door, he paused and let out a sob.

"Hey, hey," Kade said, "cut that out. Look at me." Tyler looked up, his eyes bleary and his body shaking. "I understand this isn't easy. Never was and never will be. And it's even worse coming on it in the dark. But you've got to suck it up. There's nothing more you can do."

"I might've been able to save her if I hadn't panicked. If I had--"

"If, if, if, if, if," Kade grumbled. "The world is full of ifs and you can't explore them all. Kid, there's nothing you could've done. Odds are she was dead when you happened upon the scene. Nothing you could've done."

"I failed as a Peacekeeper, though. Somebody died in my own backyard and I couldn't stop it! How can I call myself a Peacekeeper when I let a murderer get away?!"

"We all have regrets, kid," Kade said. "We all do things that haunt us. The difference between a real Peacekeeper and a pretender is that a real Peacekeeper doesn't focus on what he could have done. He focuses on what he's going to do. There's a killer in our city. That's the black and white of it. One person's already died because of it. We're not going to let another one die, right?"

"...Okay..."

"Listen to me," Kade said. "We can do something about this. We can't bring back the dead but we can try to protect the living."

Tyler nodded humbly. He made a move as if he was going to hug Kade, but seemed to think against it. He extended his paw out and Kade shook it. He was still shaking. "I'm sorry for crying like that. I should be stronger."

"We all have breakdowns. Happens to the best of us." Kade sniffed and scowled. "Let's go inside. You need a shower."

Tyler rolled his eyes. "Rude," he murmured with the faintest hint of a smile. Then, he paused again. "Do you think we'll find him?"

"The killer? Possibly."

"That's not very confident."

"It's truthful," Kade admitted. "There's always a chance they'll slip away. Or maybe they've already skipped town. Who knows? But we'll try. That's the best we can do."

"Not what I wanted to hear."

"You're a big boy now, Ty," Kade said. "I'm not going to lie to you and I'm not going to sugarcoat the world. Time for you to grow a pair and face it."